Bank error nearly causes veteran, 91, to lose her home

Severina Wilson is a 91-year-old widow, and a veteran of both World War ll and Korea. And through no fault of her own, she was about to lose her Pasadena home.

On Friday, widow and veteran was to be evicted from her home but she had done nothing to lose it. Proving it was another matter, until some lawyers with hearts and a bank willing to correct the mistake intervened.

Wilson has seen a lot in her life. She served in the Army during World War II and during the Korean War, she was assigned to the Marines.

What she never expected to see was a foreclosure notice.

"And I got the letter the house had been sold," she explained to Eyewitness News.

Last year, Chase Bank refused Mrs. Wilson's mortgage payments because there was an escrow problem -- and not of her making. Her proof of insurance was never passed on by the branch bank to the mortgage division. That triggered a default, so her home was sold to Fannie Mae, and she can't take surprises.

"I have a heart condition and they say if I get too stressed, I could have a heart attack," Mrs. Wilson said.

Despite that, Mrs. Wilson is VA Hospital volunteer. Recently, she met a member of Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program at the VA.

Lawyer Alissa Rubin Gomez listened.

"Because she had made every payment that was due and had tried to make payments and had been refused," Rubin Gomez explained.

From there, her case went to the law firm of Berg and Androphy, which represented her without charge.

"We were looking for the right case to make a difference," said Sarah Frazier with the law firm.

KTRK legal analyst Joel Androphy spoke to the president of Chase Bank in Houston, and the result was near immediate.

"We had a resolution yesterday because we didn't have to deal with lawyers," Androphy said.

On Tuesday, Mrs. Wilson got the news and she was elated.

"The bank has agreed that you get to stay in your house, that something happened, they made a mistake. And so they're going to fix it," Kevin Clark with Berg and Androphy told Mrs. Wilson.

"Oh my God, thank you ladies and gentlemen. Thank you so much," she replied.

Her home is all she has and she loves it. Now, she gets to love it for the rest of her life, without the threat of foreclosure. It was a battle at her age but a lot of people had her back, and she had backbone.

"Marines are tough," Mrs. Wilson said.

She is, indeed.

Chase Bank issued a statement Tuesday afternoon saying, "We have resolved Mrs. Wilson's mortgage situation so she can stay in her home permanently." ___________________________________________________________